William Shakespeare, only 19 years old but already with a wife and child, leaves Stratford-upon-Avon to pursue a career in theatre in London.

But on the journey he is robbed and kidnapped by a group of highwaymen, led by the aged, round-bellied womaniser John Falstaff.

When Shakespeare wakes up in Oldcastle Hold, Oxfordshire, without his possessions – including his half-finished Comedy of Errors¬ – the lord of the house Falstaff denies any wrongdoing.

Shakespeare becomes a prisoner to Falstaff and is asked to write to write to his father for ransom before he can be released.

However, Shakespeare becomes a favourite of the benign Falstaff, and is more concerned with turning down the unwanted advances of the buxom Mercy Roundy than fleeing the household.

But things take a darker turn when Shakespeare is asked to work as gardener to the house, and he discovers the rotting corpse of his predecessor who tried to make an escape.

A group of actors come to Oldcastle Hold and Shakespeare makes his acting debut as a youth who murders his lover’s father, played by Falstaff.

But life comes to imitate art in the middle of the play when Falstaff is discovered with his throat cut – by the very gardening tool Shakespeare was using.

Framed by the murder and sentenced to hang, Shakespeare knows his only chance of survival is to escape the mad house...

Praise for Leonard Tourney:

“A gorgeous period piece.” Washington Post

“A soundly researched, roundly entertaining series.” New York Times Book Review

“The Stocks are as warmly likable a couple as can be found in all crime fiction. Tourney’s plotting is expert.” Los Angeles Times

Leonard Tourney is a specialist in composition pedagogy and creative writing, he has authored scholarly articles in 17th century British literature, a critical biography of Joseph Hall, short fiction, and nine historical novels, the most recent a fictional memoir of William Shakespeare. He has taught at Western Illinois University, the University of Tulsa, and the University of California at Santa Barbara.